Can anyone recommend me some good black metal?

I almost never ask for recommendations, but I'm kind of unsure where to go at this point. I want to get more good black metal, but I don't know what other bands to look into. I want to get black metal that's not too soft or melodic, yet at the same time isn't just blasting and stuff. I recently got a CD by Deiphago, and I really didn't care for it. I can barely make out any riffs in it most of the time (in large part because of the production), so it's not entertaining to me. It kind of reminds me of Blasphemy (Canada), who I also dislike. Fallen Angel of Doom is one of my least favorite black metal albums ever. I don't like my black metal to sound muddy and indistinguishable. If it sounds like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0oFFtG5lqs - then I don't care for it.

Lately I've been listening to a lot of Carpathian Forest (I love Fuck You All! Caput tuum in ano est) and Bethlehem's Dictius te Necare. I like Carpathian Forest because their music is kind of thrashy at times, yet they retain a black metal feel to the music. They also manage to sound simultaneously evil and hateful, and yet punkish and self-aware at the same time; Nattefrost's sense of humor really clicks with me. I don't want just a mix of black and thrash metal though. Like for example, there's this band called Bestial Mockery, whose songs basically sound like random assorted black metal parts mixed with random assorted thrash metal parts (at least on their album Gospel of the Insane), so I'm not as into them as I otherwise would be. With Carpathian Forest however, it feels like each riff works well together, so I never feel that clash, as if two or more different songs were spliced together. This Carpathian Forest song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2uD47htdi4 - I think is an awesome song. And for Bethlehem, Dictius te Necare is an album I love. It has a lot of slower, more sombre moments, as well as a much more serious feel than Carpathian Forest, but I feel they work well. It's truly a disturbing album to listen to, and it doesn't hurt that the band occasionally has faster moments as well. This song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3KUAKmWUso - I think is wonderful. Another thing about Bethlehem is they do have a lot of drops in their songs where they abruptly switch from metal to some clean guitar or something, but I actually don't dislike it here I think it usually fits the song well when they do it.

I guess mainly, I want black metal that is dynamic and interesting to listen to. I don't want something that's incomprehensible, but I also don't want something that's too soft or droning. I can't wait for Carpathian Forest to release their new album! Until then though, I need to find more black metal to listen to.

Craft are fucking awesome and kind of has that Carpathian Forest feel with a bit of Darkthrone (more so on their first 2). The Fuck the Universe album would be good start and their new one is in a similar style:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_kEsdXZLfk

Taake - This is some of their newer stuff, which has a bit more of "rock" influence in their riffs like Carpathian Forest. The older stuff is rawer and more melodic, which is a little more in my style. This song seems like a good representation of their more recent sound with touches of their old:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAIIbnrYC7Q

Stuff that's already recommended would be alright, though I personally think Silencer is mental.

This may or may not be to your liking, I tried to stay away from both the really muddy sounding BM, and the obvious genre mainstays (Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum), as well as the super-melodic-post-rockish-atmospheric-every–song-is-over-12-minutes type BM. The only problem with this playlist is that the production might be a bit too clean for that proper BM feel.

Craft - I think this is pretty nice; I like the 1:14 and 2:07 parts in particular, although I think I'd prefer the production to sound a little sharper/clearer and more upfront; sorry I didn't make that clear earlier.

Taake - I really like this song; this is excellent. I can't believe I've heard the name Taake for years, but never got around to listening to them until now; thank you for that

Silencer - Haha, I can see why some people don't like the vocals here, but I enjoy them The vocals sound like a really twisted falsetto, which I think is cool. I don't always like extreme falsetto (I don't particularly care for King Diamond's vocals, for example), but I like this singer's voice; I think it fits the music. Musically I enjoy this, although the riffing is a little more "atmospheric" than I'm looking for.

Ancient Rune wrote:

BOO!!! BLACK METAL IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD ABOUT ASKING FOR IT

You put forth a convincing argument

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After_The_Barrel_Roll:

Cobalt - I looked up Pregnant Insect, and I like this This has kind of a... "rock" feel to it (I hesitate to use that term to describe it, because I don't really like the majority of rock music, yet that description seems to be a recurring element in the black metal I'm liking), which is good.

Deathspell Omega - Without a specific song to look up, I decided to check out Wings of Predation from their newest full-length, and I enjoy this too. I really like the 2:48 part; it's really awesomely twisted.

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Shrike:

Cobalt - I really dig this song too; I need to get Gin!

Borknagar - Previous to this, I'd only listened to Empiricism, which I didn't like. This is definitely black metal I guess this is kind of melodic, but I find it relaxing to listen to, even if it's somewhat different from what I'm looking for.

Nachtmystium - Wow, this is pretty thrashy I like it. I also dig the breakdown at the 1:20 mark; it sounds very desolate, which I think contrasts well with the otherwise straightforward thrashiness. I also like the Tom Warrior grunt during it, haha

Solstafir - I think this is alright; there isn't anything really wrong with it, but I'm not really into it for some reason. I guess it feels monotonous? Not to the extent that Blasphemy is, but nothing in it really jumps out at me.

Shining - Again, I think this is okay. I don't think I'm interested at the moment in black metal that's very melodramatic or atmospheric.

I think I'll continue with the other songs later; it's getting late. I've been working on this post for hours! I think I'll revisit the past couple bands when I'm more awake; maybe I'll have a different opinion of them then. Until then, thank you jeffnogo, After_The_Barrel_Roll, and Shrike for your recommendations

That's cool that you like Taake, they've always been one of my favorites. As for Craft's production, it's definitely not the cleanest around, but I will say it definitely sounds better on CD than it does on the youtube video. So, keep that in mind.

I listened to Solstafir and Shining again, and still have the same feeling about them, pretty much. I think they're okay.

Waning - I really like the 1:26 part; it feels like I'm in a blistering snowstorm. This is another kind of atmospheric track, but the sound feels more upfront, so I'm enjoying this more than the last couple. I also like the 4:45 part a lot.

Code - I really like this song! I forgot to mention that I like the sometimes random clean vocal shouts that Nattefrost does in Carpathian Forest and his solo project. There's a clean shout kind of like that at the 1:43 mark, which I think is cool I like hearing that mixed in with the standard black metal screaming. Code is cool.

Woe - I enjoy this as well. This has kind of a majestic, epic feel to it.

Horna - 1:29 part is pretty neat. I think this song is alright, but a little monotonous. It doesn't sound bad, but I'm not really looking for atmospheric black metal at the moment.

Electroretard wrote:

haha i never got why people consider Deathspell Omega black metal. They sound like The Dillinger Escape Plan.

Check out Vinterland, Kurt. Black metal from Sweden that put out one album then split up.

...I think so? *listens again* How would you describe it? This is more midpaced than most of the atmospheric tracks here, and the production quality is also clearer, but that's still how I'd describe it.

It has it's midpaced moments and sure it still has atmosphere like most standard BM, but it's too fast, uses too many power chords, and has too many fast changes to be described outright as "atmospheric" in my opinion:

Code - I really like this song! I forgot to mention that I like the sometimes random clean vocal shouts that Nattefrost does in Carpathian Forest and his solo project. There's a clean shout kind of like that at the 1:43 mark, which I think is cool I like hearing that mixed in with the standard black metal screaming. Code is cool.

Code's two albums are some of my black metal albums of all time. There's a lot more clean singing on the rest of the tracks, and his clean vocals are awesome.